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Taurahe
Taurahe refers to the native languages spoken by the Tauren from the Warcraft universe. There are numerous dialects of Taurahe, as most tribe retain their own version of the language. The most common dialect by far is Bloodhoof Taurahe, the native tongue of High Chieftain Baine. Bloodhoof Taurahe has supplanted ceremonial Taurahe in areas of trade and tribal politics. Phonology Consonants There are 19 consonants. Symbols in parenthesis indicate where orthography differs from that of the phonemic symbol. : Allophony Voiced obstruents /dʝ v ð/ are voiceless when they appear before another consonant in the same morpheme, as well as in morphemes containing a nasal. :/maði/ > maɔθɪ mathi :/vira/ > fəɪʐ̞ɐ fira :/ðodʝa/ > θoʊdʝɐ thoja /n/ is pronounced as ŋ in the syllable coda. The sequence /nj/ is pronounced as ɟ. Vowels There are four vowels, superficially written as /a i o u/. These vowels appear have 2 allophones, depending on stress. : */taka/ > taɔ̯kɐ */piki/ > pə̯ɪkɪ */kodo/ > koʊ̯do */nuka/ > ny̯ʉkɐ /u/ does not appear in unstressed position. Phonotactics Syllable structure is limited to ©V(n). Stress Stress is trochaic. The penultimate syllable of a word always takes main stress, and secondary stress falls on the first syllable and every odd syllable thereafter. A syllable will not have secondary stress if the following syllable has main stress. Grammar Sentence Structure Clause structure is verb-subject-object. Noun Phrase The noun phrase consists of 5 parts: adjective phrase, class marker, plural marker, noun, case marker. Class In Taurahe, nouns are considered to fall into 4 groups or classes: divine, animate, inanimate, and construct. Each class Divine nouns are the most spirited of phenomena, like magic, fire, weather, and celestial bodies. :ha anshi - the sun :ha kahi - the rain :ha Halo - the Earthmother :ha musha - ''the moon Animate nouns refer to living persons, animals, and also some personified things like some trees and mountains. :eth' akalake - the man :etha shu - the child :etha fithiyi - the hunter :etha kodo - the kodo Inanimate nouns are objects that can be found in nature without the influence of architecture or agriculture or engineering etc. :ko mochi - the tree :ko pake - the blood :ko anyavi - the berry :ko lapo - the stone :ko ume - the fish Construct nouns are objects which do not occur naturally. :o hakaji - the arrow :o kude - the shield :o kolobi - the jar :o hapenyi - the clothing Person There are two other class markers, an and chi. These replace the class markers (usually etha), and they indicate that the noun is in first or second person, respectively. :Ki tachora-tiki eth' akalake sa etha thoja. - The man was hitting the troll. :Ki tachora-tiki an akalake sa chi thoja. - The man (me) was hitting the troll (you). Plural The plural marker is mu. :ko sheni - bone :ko mu sheni - bones The plural marker is not required when an explicit number adjective modifies the noun. :ichi ko sheni - a white bone :ichi ko mu sheni - white bones :suha ko sheni - two bones :suha ichi ko sheni - two white bones Case There are 4 grammatical cases in Taurahe. Absolutive, ergative, locative, and lative. There is no marker for the absolutive case. :Ki fu kazi ruja o kolobi. - The red jar''' broke.'' The ergative marker is sa. :Ki tifo-ki eth' akalake sa o kolobi. - ''The man looks at the red jar.'' The locative marker is ni. :Ki ko rohi ni o kolobi. - ''The jar is '''on the ground The lative marker is to. :Ki chipa-ki mura eth' akalake sa o kolobi yela yela ko rohi to. - The sad man buries the jar '''in the cold, cold ground.' Verb Phrase The verb phrase consists of 4 parts: adverb space, modal particle, verb, and tense-aspect. Modality There are 3 modal particles, ki, he, and do. The particle ki is used to mark the realis mood. :Ki lalota-ki etha mu fiji. ''The children are playing. :Ki fu mun eth' akalake sa ko moanyi. The man ate the fruit. He marks the epistemic mood. :He lalota-ki etha mu fiji. The children might be playing. :He fu mun eth' akalake sa ko moanyi. The man may have eaten the fruit. Do marks the deontic mood. :Do lalota-ki etha mu fiji. The children ought to be playing. :Do fu mun eth' akalake sa ko moanyi. The man ought to have eaten the fruit. Imperatives are marked with either the epistemic or deontic mood. Epistemic imperatives are more polite and easier to refuse than deontic imperatives. :Chi shu sa he mun-ki ko moanyi. You should eat the fruit. :Do mun-ki chi shu sa ko moanyi. You must eat the fruit. Tense-Aspect There are 5 tense-aspects: past perfective, past imperfective, present, future perfective, and future imperfective. With the exception of fu, which appears before the verb, tense-aspect markers must attach directly to the verb because they affect its stress pattern. : : : :